Alfio Mozzi: of running and wine
A record of time, a documentation of the year
“One bout of hail and all the grapes could be ruined,” says Alfio Mozzi with a rueful smile. “Each year is different and I can never be 100 per cent certain it’ll go well.” With clenched teeth, the wine maker grabs a bunch that has visibly suffered the ill effects of the climaate and throws them onto the ground as waste. “We are always at the mercy of the weather. I tend to them as best I can but they’re outside, uncovered and open to everything.”
Wine is a drink of ages, although it is far from as old as the act of running. In the intimate, cask-lined cellar that sits beneath steep Nebbiolo vineyards, the Valtellina-based winemaker Mozzi explains how these two opposing factors, running and the physical labour of high-end, small-scale wine production, have been a battle. The 44-year-old has made a name for himself in this mountainous valley of Northern Italy for being exceptionally good at both, although his own high standards won’t allow him to admit this. But just as the success or failure of the grapes are at the mercy of the elements, Mozzi’s running is at the mercy of his time-consuming work.
As a vineyard owner, family man, and the person solely responsible for the vinification, bottling, marketing and sales of his wine, Mozzi’s schedule is determined purely by the seasons. Now it’s November and the wine harvest, known as the ‘vendemmia’, has finally drawn to an end after two hectic weeks spent working dawn until dusk. “Everyone has been helping from the three generations of my family,” he explains. “It’s a relief to have finished the harvest, now I can resume some sort of normality — I haven’t managed to run properly for a long while. The summer is so busy tending to the vines that I haven’t trained for three months, just fitting in runs when I can.”
For someone who hasn’t run for three months it’s incredible to see Mozzi gliding down the road at 3:10 min/km pace during our interval session — that’s just over 5min/mile. The vines that line the road are now bare, testament to the hard work that the local winemakers have put in over recent weeks. Mozzi tells us that it will be three years before this recent harvest will be on the shop shelves, outlining the long process the grapes go through before labels are stuck onto bottles.
Our reps are measured between the fountains in two neighbouring villages, and the road traverses the gradient of the steep vineyard-covered mountainside. Today we’re doing 4 x 2,000m at half marathon pace, and although we’re mindful that this is Mozzi’s comeback session, he dictates the pace by his former personal bests — though he admits that he needs longer rests this time around. For him, the number of serious comebacks is close to surpassing the fingers on one hand but it doesn’t deter him, convinced that it’ll never to be too late to manage the balancing act of work and high-level running.
Talk in the valley revolves around two things: wine and running, and Mozzi’s name frequently resonates around the historic terraces in both regards, though he remains modest. During today’s warm-up he took a brief detour into the cantina of a friend, showing us the personal wine cellar of someone who has been a role model and tutor to his own career in wine production. Not having followed the academic route into viticulture, Mozzi’s on-the-job learning began when he was knee-high, much like his trajectory into running, and his eagerness to learn from others is contagious. As they talk grapes, frequently reverting to the local dialect, we make out some jokes about today’s session, with our elderly host urging Mozzi to ‘vai piano’ — to go slowly — lest he leave us in his wake like he did at those now legendary races against West Africans in northern Italy at the turn of the century.
In 1998 Mozzi took over his parents’ vineyards, inheriting land that he expanded to 3.5 hectares, innovatively turning the typically uphill-angled vines across the gradient, a feat that prompted discussion and raised eyebrows amongst the valley’s more traditional viticulture community. But, as he explains, it makes his life easier as he isn’t forced to work against the gradient of the steep slopes, whose rocky terrain gives his Sassella and Sforzato wines such distinction. “Even when I took the family vines and decided to work hard expanding our area I always tried to keep running.” Competition, however, since has often had to take a back seat.
“My coach always said that I should run 14:30 for 5,000m,” Mozzi drops into the conversation during a rest period in the session; and it is clear that he possesses a natural talent with the palmares to prove it. His efficient style and fast pace even lead us to question his claims of not having run for the previous three months. Mozzi continues: “But Valtellina does not have a traditional road or track scene, so it was always going to be tough to achieve that. And of course, my parents expected me to be working on the vines, rather than travelling, racing and training.” Incomprehensible to many foreigners, the ties between Italian families are virtually unbreakable, and the mother’s word is more than often obeyed. “But I have always loved running, the freedom that it brings and the return for the hard work you invest.”
Now in charge of the business, Mozzi has more freedom, which gives him the liberty to grab those precious quieter moments to train. Subsequently, his running season follows a similar pattern to the season of the grapes, seeing him currently aim for a new half marathon personal best in early spring. The winter is spent restructuring the vineyards, laying the foundation for the season ahead — much like his winter running. Come spring, he explains it’s the hardest time of the year as everything grows so rapidly and risks overrunning the crops before they’ve really begun. For Mozzi himself, he runs the same risk of injury as his intensity builds and his weak calf plagues him. Nonetheless, with the inherent risks to both sides of his life, there is the same glint in Mozzi’s eye when he talks of both. “This afternoon I have two Israeli buyers coming for a tour, and then I have a dinner with local winemakers tonight.” Mozzi mentions at the end of the session. “You know these festas [parties] aren’t good for the running, but they’re part of the job.”
Said job demands a minimum of 70 hours a week and even more during autumn’s vendemmia. But this is the hard work that is tasted in a great wine, on a par with the hard work put in by athletes to have a great run. A balancing act that Mozzi is once again reacquainting himself with, he flicks through the 2016 calendar to choose his aim, declaring March his target month. By spring the viticulture season will be kicking off too, and his focus will return to his treasured vines.
A record of time, weather and the location that it is made in, wine is a documentation of the year the grapes are grown. Each comes with its own distinctive characteristics, tastes and episodes of bad weather, which are ingrained in Mozzi’s memory and celebrated on the palate. Currently the 2012 harvest has just been labelled, ready to sell. Years in the making, this profession really is a labour of love, one where the producer needs to be in it for the long game. But with Mozzi this is not laborious, because as with his running these are elements of his life that he loves and, even though one does not necessarily complement the other, they definitely deserve comparison. Was it running or wine that inspired his work ethic? His passion for both is equally strong, and fully justifies the success he has made for himself in both worlds.
You can buy Alfio Mozzi wine in North America, although at present we can only find one stockist with availability.
This story originally featured in issue #03 of Meter magazine. Meter takes a long form look at the hidden side of running culture and at the athletes, heritage and events that continue to make running the greatest sport in the world. We’re about to release issue #05, which you’ll be able to buy direct from Tracksmith.
